My last blog (sent from my phone) turned out to be presumtuous. As we made our way to the end of the runway the weather deteriorated. The flight corridor which we were supposed to fly down began to have a problem so instead of roaring off down the runway we had to taxi off to a lot where we parked while they figured out what to do. We eventually got back in line to take off only to find when we neared takeoff the winds had changed direction so much they had altered runways so we had to follow a bunch of planes around the tarmac to a new runway. A few planes made it off, including the one in front of us. The winds changed again so we had to make a fourth attempt to take off from yet another starting point. This time we made it. Two hours late.
The Floridian’s think it’s cold down here today but compared to the misery we left, the blue skies and high 60s are very pleasant. Despite landing late we shot for and succeeded in covering all the chores we had aimed to accomplish in both days. We now have our Florida licenses, our mail (including flight tickets to BVIs), our new headsail and enough generator spares for 1,000 hours of use. I guess we are going to have to take some time to learn to slow down.
While doing this we’ve come close to sorting out our insurance for the next year. The post-charter boat survey came in yesterday and we sent it off to the agent. There are a few items that need to be remediated in 30 days but we are good to go for our trip to St Martin where we can take our time to address these issues.
Now we’re at a loose end. Nothing to fix or do. There is some paperwork to look at and some repacking to do to fit the spare parts in but we’ve agreed to leave that to tomorrow. I think this prevarication is forgivable. For now, we’ve decided to treat ourselves to a meal out before we collapse with tiredness.
Finally – we’re beginning to feel the vestiges of some excitement. It certainly doesn’t feel like we’re going on vacation. More a change of life. A lot to sink in.
